Welcome to the world

For now you are small, smaller than anyone would ever think a person could be, with tiny perfect hands and tiny, perfect feet and tiny, perfect everything else.

You will confuse your parents as they learn and relearn what you do and don’t like, what makes you happy and what makes you grumpy, yet with each and every thing you do you will make them prouder than they’ve every been before.

Even when they are tired, and even when they are sad, they will love you more than anything.

When you are older you will learn to smile, to talk, to run and jump and laugh and shout.

But for now you will cry and eat and sleep (sometimes not enough) and poop (sometimes far too much).

Welcome to the world, little child.

You are learning faster than any adult could ever imagine, even when you are asleep. Your mind is absorbing everything around it, things that you will take for granted when you are older, like who your mum and dad are, and that a sore belly means you are hungry, and that no one gives cuddles quite like a grandmother.

When you are older you will learn words and numbers and rules and when to break them. You will learn to cook and to build things and to plant things and watch them grow – or not.

But for now, you will cry and eat and sleep (sometimes not enough) and poop (sometimes far too much).

Welcome to the world, little man.

You are perfect and innocent just as you are, and the only things you know are the things you can see and feel.

One day you will fall in love, and be fallen in love with. You will hurt and be hurt, and do silly things and do smart things, and all of the things that you do will help you on the path to becoming the best you you can possibly be.

And all of the times you fall and cry, or are hurt and sad or feel bad for something you have done, your parents will be there to hold you and make you feel safe.

But for now, little baby, you will cry and eat and sleep and poop, you will confuse your parents and make them proud, you will live and you will learn and you will love.